02.12.09

House Approves Obama’s Economic Recovery Plan

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives today approved President Barack Obama’s economic plan to save and create millions of jobs and get the economy moving forward again, paving the way for the President to sign the bill by President’s Day weekend. U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and a champion of investments in the plan that will save education jobs and provide urgent relief to school districts, called the plan a victory for America’s schoolchildren, students, workers and the economy.
“President Obama has called on us to act to help lift America out of the most devastating recession since the Great Depression. Today Congress stepped up to the plate. 
 
“President Obama’s plan will provide relief to millions of Americans whose economic pain is worsening by the day; to workers who need a job; to schools that are in desperate need of repairs and resources; and to children who need a good education now more than ever. This plan rightly recognizes that investing in education is not a luxury – it is an economic and education necessity.
 
“It will make historic investments in education, modernize technology in health care, increase our use of renewable energy, rebuild dangerous roads and bridges, and will help the millions of Americans on unemployment and in need of food assistance. All of these investments will save and create jobs, while preparing our country for the more modern, robust, and efficient economy we’ll need when we do make it out of this recession.
 
“At its heart, this plan is about the school teachers, nurses, librarians, janitors, truck drivers and millions of other workers who are deeply worried they may not have a job tomorrow, next month or next year. It’s about the students trying to stay in college as their families are losing their jobs and income. And it’s about the schoolchildren that our future economic strength, competitiveness and innovation will depend on. 
 
“As President Obama has made clear, this plan will not turn our economy around overnight and it won’t solve every problem we face. But it is essential. With President Obama set to sign this plan in the days ahead, we are now a big step closer to our goal of saving and creating millions of jobs, getting emergency aid out to Americans quickly and getting our economy back on track.”
 
BACKGROUND
 
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes:
 
Save and Create Jobs, Prevent Education Cuts
 
  •  A $53.6 billon state stabilization fund to help states prevent cutbacks, layoffs, create jobs by modernizing schools and colleges and meet other needs. $5 billion of this fund will be used as bonus grants to states that make progress on key education reforms, like getting better teachers in high-need classrooms and improving the quality of assessments.
  • $13 billion in Title I – which goes to educate low-income students – for school districts and $12.2 billion in IDEA funding to help districts educate students with disabilities.
  • $2.1 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start, to expand critical early education opportunities for an additional 124,000 low-income infants and children. According to estimates, this will also create 50,000 new early education jobs.
  • $2 billion for Child Care Development Block Grants to provide child care services to an additional 300,000 low-income children while their parents are at work.
 
Immediate Aid to Make College More Affordable
 
  • $500 increase in the Pell Grant scholarship for the next school year – a boost that will benefit up to seven million students.  In FY 2006, almost 75 percent of Pell Grant recipients had family incomes of $30,000 or below.
  • Creates a new $2,500 tuition tax credit to help an additional four million students families pay for college.
 
Helping workers find jobs
 
  • Almost $4 billion for job training programs to help prepare laid-off, adult, and younger workers prepare for jobs in emerging industries including green jobs.
  • $500 million to help prepare Americans with disabilities for employment.
  • $120 million to provide community service jobs to an additional 24,000 low-income older Americans.
  • $500 million to help states place unemployed workers in open jobs.
 
Affordable Health Care for Unemployed Workers
 
  • Workers who recently lost their job will be eligible to receive a 65 percent subsidy towards their COBRA premium for up to nine months – helping both recently laid-off workers and older workers and tenured workers stay covered by expanding access to affordable health care coverage.